“Did you know? I actually don’t get any overtime pay.”
Qu Le sat at his desk. After learning why we were here, he said this to Lu Xiu with a completely straight face.
“Oh, look, I’m just here to help you get some results.”
Lu Xiu nodded at me, and I took out the tomato eye that I’d stored in my big mouth.
“How come there’s only one eye left?” he asked, looking at the sticky thing in my hand.
“I ate the rest.”
Lu Xiu sighed and told me to put the eye on the table.
“Wait! This desk is expensive, at least put some paper down first.” Qu Le quickly bent over, fished out a few sheets of paper from the trash bin, and wrapped up the eye in my hand.
He looked at it, frowning in confusion. “So, what is this?”
“An eye. Tomato-flavored.” I answered right away.
“I wasn’t asking about the flavor…”
“It’s a demon. The Burger Demon.” Lu Xiu cut off our pointless conversation.
“Burger Demon? What the hell is that?”
“Right? I think it’s pretty crazy too.”
“It really is…” Qu Le poked at the tomato eye with his pen. “Never heard of it.”
“That’s exactly why we came here.” Lu Xiu briefly explained to Qu Le what had happened before.
After listening to Lu Xiu, Qu Le tapped his fingertips on the desk.
“So, what you mean is… the demons are increasing? Or at least, there are more types?”
He immediately picked up on Lu Xiu’s unspoken point.
“At the very least, you wouldn’t have imagined a Burger Demon before, right? Who knows, while we’re talking, there might be a Slipper Demon somewhere, running around in slippers reeking of foot odor.”
“That’s a bit too low-class for a demon.” Qu Le complained. “But… lately there have been a lot more bizarre incidents, and Nirvana Society is definitely involved in some of them. So maybe it’s a new conspiracy?”
Lu Xiu frowned. “A continuation of Yanluo City?”
Qu Le nodded. “Can’t rule it out. The fall of Yanluo City was like a giant alarm bell, ringing over our heads all the time. Last time it was Yanluo… so who’s next?”
“…I was hoping for a few more peaceful days.”
“Hahaha, you’ll have eternal rest when you’re dead. As long as you’re alive, you have to keep moving.”
I stood by the side, watching the two of them—sometimes shaking their heads, sometimes nodding, sighing every so often.
I thought these two guys definitely had something wrong with their heads.
“I’m hungry.”
I decided to break this boring cycle.
Pull the topic to something more normal, more wholesome.
Lu Xiu: “Didn’t you just eat a demon?”
“I didn’t finish it.” I glanced at the eye and licked my lips. “See, there’s still a bit left.”
“You can’t eat this, it’s important research material.” Qu Le immediately wrapped the tomato eye tighter in paper.
“Fine, then I want to drink Kuyan Fire Village!”
“No, you already had today’s share with me.”
Lu Xiu rejected me mercilessly.
“Eh… but I caught a demon!”
“One apple. Not a bit more.”
“Two apples.”
“One. Try to bargain again and I’ll just give you apple peels.”
“Fine.”
We walked out of Yingdui Si. Qu Le handed the tomato eye over to the Baota staff. In a few days, there should be results. We didn’t linger and left for now.
On the way home, Lu Xiu and I were still just as nonchalant.
He had his hands in his pockets, walking like he didn’t care about anything. I was swaying my head, now and then pulling a bit of grass from the greenbelt to chew on.
We strolled in as slackers, and left as slackers.
At night, the city was even more noisy and bustling. There were no stars tonight—only glass reflecting neon lights, as if replacing the starlight, darting between the high-rises, mirroring the myriad lights on the ground, flowing together into a Dustworld Star River.
As we walked, I suddenly caught a whiff of something delicious. My gaze drifted to a nearby street food stall, and I swallowed.
“Lu Xiu, I’m hungry.”
“Eat at home.”
“But I’m hungry now. Eating at home later won’t make me less hungry right now.”
He turned and looked at me. “…What are you even talking about?”
“I mean, the me right now isn’t the me from later. I’m really hungry now, but after I eat, the me from then will be full. That’s future me, not current me. And since time keeps moving, I can’t go back, so the me from the past will always be hungry.”
I looked at him. He looked at me.
“You want to eat street food, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” I admitted honestly.
Lu Xiu sighed.
He slowly walked over to the street food stall.
“Yay! I love Lu Xiu so much!”
“You only love skewers, nothing more…”
He walked up to the boss, pulled out his wallet, and asked, “Boss, how much for a skewer?”
“One million.”
Lu Xiu looked up, staring at the boss, who looked pretty unreasonable. “How much did you say?”
“Ten million.”
“Mingbi?”
“Cash.”
Lu Xiu went silent.
“But… today is my daughter’s birthday. Two skewers for one yuan.”
The boss said, handing over the skewers.
Lu Xiu’s mouth twitched. “Then why’d you say so much before?”
“It’s called building atmosphere, creating a twist, grabbing attention.”
Lu Xiu was at his wit’s end. After paying, he handed me the skewers. “Here, eat slowly. These are Special Skewers.”
I could feel he was gritting his teeth, as if he wanted to hit someone.
I bit into the hot skewer.
Delicious!
The cumin and spices burst in my mouth, oil and smoky charcoal flavors mingled together, and the meat aroma made me want to dance and fly up to the moon.
“Don’t spin in circles while you’re eating.”
“Okay, okay. You’re always right, since you bought me skewers.”
I walked along the curb, balancing myself, wobbling and twisting, feeling delighted. Lu Xiu walked ahead of me, the streetlights shining down from above, casting a layer of silvery dust on him, glittering brightly.
Even though he always looked exhausted, his back was unexpectedly straight—like a concrete brick.
Hehe.
I lifted the finished skewer stick, pointed it toward the sky, toward the streetlight, toward the full moon.
Just a light tap.
Then I bit a mouthful of air.
This is the taste of the city.
I squinted my eyes.
Looking at the little white spot hanging in the dark night sky.
“Haicao Tuan.”
“What is it?”
“Look.” I pointed at the blurry white spot with my skewer stick. “What do you think that is?”
“Hmm?” He leaned in, following where I pointed, and frowned too.
“White, looks like a ball.”
“…That’s not a ball.” He sighed. “That’s work.”
“Eh… but my skewer isn’t finished yet.”
“Eat as you walk.”
He pouted, pulled out his phone, and walked toward the distant streetlight.
“Oh oh!”
I hopped down from the curb, took a big bite of skewer, and hurried after him.
The streetlights stretched our shadows long behind us, wavering as they slipped into the darkness.
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